September 16, 2011

Great Marketing Mistakes - Time & Money - Don't Sell Yourself Short

Time and money are the age old problems that we’ve all had since the dawn of civilization.

In the business of marketing, I have often had prospective clients come to me with little time and little money frantically wanting to accomplish an heroic marketing or sales feat.

If you’ve ever been short on time, or money, or both and needed to sell a lot of merchandise quickly, this marketing advice is for you.

First and foremost, you need to live in the real world.

In the words of the great Zig Ziglar, “Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance” and another popular quote: “time is money”; both of these sayings should be memorized by anyone who has anything to do with selling or marketing anything.

If you want to market something successfully and are on a limited budget, you need to start EARLY. Don’t wait until the last minute.

If you have a large budget you can get more done faster and with better quality.

Essentially, the more time you have the less money you need; and, the more money you have, the less time you need. So if your budget is tiny START EARLY and be prepared to invest a great deal of time.

Investing the time may seem difficult or unreasonable but this is reality and it’s important that you face it if you want to enjoy any success.

Conversely: if you’re short on time EXPECT TO PAY. The more quickly and professionally you want your project to come off, the larger your budget will need to be.

If you have both time and a decent budget you can expect to do well with professional help if you’re not a marketing pro yourself.

So save yourself a lot of stress. Plan your marketing early and make sure your budget allows for what you want.

---- Toli Cefail

Toli Cefail is a 30 year veteran marketing professional and has owned and operated businesses for her entire adult life. She is currently the Co-Founder, COO and Creative Director for In Touch Marketing, parent company of ITM Pro Solutions.

Wow, you sure are an expert in this craft. I agree with all your views in this post. Plus, I learned something from it. It's always important to be prepared. Marketing requires strategic planning and one must be skilled to do specific things. Thanks!